Marketing Happy Hour - What Every Marketer Can Learn from the Restaurant Industry | Brianna Keefe of Toastique

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

In this episode, we sit down with Brianna Keefe, founder and CEO of Toasty — a fresh, made-in-house cafe concept that started as a single 1,000 square foot store in Washington D.C. in 2018 and has grown to over 65 locations across 25 states, entirely through franchising and word of mouth. Brianna opened her first store at 24 with no formal marketing plan, no app, and no third party delivery — just a highly shareable product, a commitment to quality, and an instinct for community. She opens up about how grassroots marketing and in-person community building became the foundation of Toasty's entire growth strategy, what the pandemic taught her about the strength of the brand she had built, how she has had to evolve as a leader as the business scaled, and the customer service principles she swears by that any business in any industry can apply. Key Takeaways:// Word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing channel you have. Toasty spent nothing on marketing for its first year and a half. The product was shareable, the experience was memorable, and customers did the rest. Brianna's belief: if you focus on quality and experience from day one, that becomes embedded in the culture of the brand.// Grassroots marketing compounds over time. Before apps, third party delivery, or a formal strategy, Toasty built its presence by showing up in the community — catering office breakfasts, doing pop ups in residential buildings, and connecting with neighboring small businesses. That foundation still drives some of their strongest growth today.// Product presentation is a marketing decision. Toasty was built from the beginning around food that looks as good as it tastes because people eat with their eyes first. The visual shareability of the product meant customers were doing organic social marketing without being asked.// Be knowledgeable about what you sell, at every level of the team. Toasty requires every team member to pass an 80-question product knowledge quiz before working the register. If someone cannot answer a customer's question confidently, the experience breaks down — no matter how warm the greeting was.// Personalization at scale is still possible. Remembering names, orders, and personal details — and following up on them — is what turns a transaction into a relationship. In hospitality and in marketing, that memorability factor is what keeps people coming back.Connect with Brianna: LinkedIn____Join the MHH Collective! The MHH Collective is a community for marketers and business owners to connect, ask real questions, and grow their careers together. Join for access to live Q&As with industry experts, a private Slack community, and ongoing resources: https://www.marketinghappyhr.com/mhh-collectiveSay hi! DM us on Instagram and let us know what content you want to hear on the show - We can't wait to hear from you! Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. ⁠Join the MHH Collective: ⁠Join now⁠Get the latest marketing trends, open jobs and MHH updates, straight to your inbox: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our email list!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow MHH on Social: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour, a weekly podcast helping marketing professionals and entrepreneurs build better strategies and hit career goals. I'm Cassie and I'm Allie. We're marketers and your hosts through these unfiltered convos with your peers and experts in the space. Let's dive in. Grab your favorite drink and let's get to this week's episode. Today we are joined by Brianna Keith, founder and CEO of Toastique. This is a really great restaurant concept that Ali and I know and love from living in Orlando. but of course we'll hear more about the brand, how it's been built over time, some of the marketing strategies behind the growth of the business as well. But Brianna, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here.

Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. Of course. And we found out off record that you have something fun in your glass. Would love for you to share that with us. What is it? Yes. So actually it's my favorite juice here at Tosteek.

It's our Radiance Shoes, which actually started as a spring special. we made permanent because it was my favorite and a crowd favorite so it has we make all of our juice in house so it has fresh grapefruit blood orange regular orange pineapple and basil in it so it's a little sweet little tart and super fresh with a little hint of basil in it's my absolute go-to oh my gosh allie and i will have to try that i've not tried that one before but that sounds amazing any drink with like basil in it i am all for it me too so good highly recommend I love it. Brianna, so just as we dive in here, would love for you to introduce yourself if you don't mind

and just share a little bit more about Toastique and more about the concept. Yeah, so I'm Brianna Keith. I'm the founder and CEO of Toastique. We actually just had our eighth anniversary in July, which is pretty wild. But we started in Washington, D.C. For stores around 1,000 square feet, pretty small. and really what our menu just encompasses is just fresh, beautiful, made-in-house products. You can really taste and see the difference.

We really focus on presentation as well, and that's always something that's been really important to us, so making sure that it looks just as good as it tastes because people do really eat with their eyes first. So, yeah, we start in 2018 with one little store in D.C. and have grown over 65 locations now in 25 different states. So, you know, it's definitely been a crazy journey these past eight years, but it's been so fun and we're excited to keep growing. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing a little bit about that.

I was going to say the actual presentation of the toast themselves is something that I keep going back to, and it's very shareable as well from a social media standpoint. So we'll dive a little bit more into it. to that too in terms of the strategy behind that presentation. But one of the things that we love on the show, both Cassie and I, but also our listeners, is really that founder origin story and what kind of drove you to build Toastique? And what was that moment that you realized that you had something really special? Yeah, I think for me, it was, you know, I was very young.

When we first opened our doors, I was 24. And I think that kind of played an important part of me being a little bit naive, but also just very, I was very passionate about our whole menu. I've always worked in hospitality. I knew that I enjoyed being in restaurants. And really, I believed in myself in my work ethic. I've always been a really hard worker. I had a job at 15. I worked all through college while also, you know, going to classes. And I was a cheerleader as well. So really just took a chance on myself and knew I would rather. work hard for myself and be, you know, of that reward. And so I worked in the corporate world for like a year and a half and was getting a little burnout, even though it was a really cool job

and we had really great opportunities. As working in events in D.C., we did a lot of off-premise events and all the museums and huge corporate events. It was actually really great, but I didn't see the vision of being a GM at a hotel or kind of like crawling up at corporate ladder. So ultimately I got a little burnout and would rather work hard for myself and so I was just like if it doesn't work out I'll just go back and get a hospitality job that was my plan and being in dc opening in july the middle of summer we just hit the ground running especially at the wharf if you guys are familiar is brand new waterfront area so there was just hundreds of thousands of people already going to the area and we're very fortunate for that

We've never spent, our first year and a half, we didn't spend any money on marketing because we just had that natural foot traffic. And so marketing really didn't come into play for us until, you know, we started franchising. But everything that, you know, I was running our Instagram for the first year and a half. And it was so easy because everyone was taking photos of their food. So I was just sharing it and quick writing a caption. And it was like no problem for me. But yeah, that was ultimately where it started. That was my vision to create myself a job, go somewhere where I was happy, working for myself.

And then being in a very touristy area, we had people from all over pretty much validate the concept and say, oh, like, you need to open one here, or I want to open one, or you should franchise. And so really in the first month is when we knew we were on to something special. And so then we started to look and decide how we wanted to grow. And so we ultimately went with franchising through owner operators, people that are passionate like me and want, you know, want to be the faces store. They really believe in the brand. We always kind of say like live the Toosek lifestyle, you know. It's like you really want to believe in the product.

It makes it easier day by day. Even when you have long hours, you're excited to talk about it, excited to meet new customers and just tell them what To Seek is about. And really then in the pandemic is when we really knew we had something special too. because it was efficient enough where we could just have one or two people working, and we ended up still being just as profitable in 2020 as we were the year before from a percentage standpoint. So that's why we kept going through with franchising, because we were like, if volume gets, you know, as low as it was in the pandemic, we can still make it through. And we never had to close our doors a day.

We just worked through it. So, yeah, after that, we went full force. into franchising. We still open one corporate store a year in the D.C. area. And so now we have, we have nine corporate stores and the rest are franchising outside the D.C. area. I really want to double click on something you said right at the top of that answer, which was that you had no professional marketing strategy as a result of opening these first locations. And I'm curious to get your thoughts. What do you think that people are underestimating about building a brand that people actually want to talk about?

and share. Yeah, I mean, I always say, and we always preach this, is that word of mouth is the best form of organic marketing, whether, you know, now digital marketing is so big. But if they're posting on social media, it's no one's going to lie to you and say, oh, I went to this place, and it was great when it wasn't. And that's what we've always made from day one,

focusing on the experience, the culture, obviously good, like customer experience when they come in. But I think even now in 2026, it's more important than ever to really focus on the experience and the quality, because people are being more selective on where they're spending their money. So you really do have to hit all the boxes to gain that loyalty and long-term success.

And I think for us, because we focused on it from day one, that has just become embedded in our culture and our team and having everyone buy into the brand and why we have to make everything in-house and why we have to greet everyone, and really giving everyone a personal experience, that's really, I think, the most important thing in hospitality and really this day and age. And then in terms of the period of time before you actually had a formal marketing budget,

what did your marketing strategy actually look like? What are some of the things that you found really helpful as part of that sort of 360 connection with the customer? Yeah, I think in the beginning it was very organic and just grassroots marketing and working with local businesses and catering. All of our organic, or our catering was very organic too. It was just customers that were like, oh, can you do my office breakfast? Can you do my bridal shower?

Whatever it may be. And so I think having that connection, that's what we've always done. And we even the first, you know, it wasn't until 2020 is when we had online ordering and an app and third parties. Like every other first two years of business, there was like no other touch points besides like physically being in the store, which is pretty crazy now. just because our marketing program is completely different. But I think it really just goes to show, like, having the grassroots marketing

and being a staple in the community, not just in your store with your customers, but also going out and meeting other businesses, meeting other small businesses, or residential buildings and, like, offering to do pop-ups and things like that. That's really where it all started, and that's still such a big part of our marketing program today. but of course with a lot more, you know, avenues, but still the grassroots marketing is really important. And I think when we're even looking at their top operators in our system, they're the ones that are very present. They've built a great team. They've built a great community.

And they're still just continuing to do that as they grow. Wellness is such a popular topic nowadays in a number of different product and service categories and businesses. How have you guys kind of stood out from the crowd in terms of, creating these eateries around the wellness category. Just so curious to hear more about that. And how has that come through in your marketing too? Yeah, I think really what we, what I wanted from the beginning is, you know, I don't have any dietary restrictions.

I like to eat healthy, but I do realize that there are a lot of people that have allergies that have restrictions. So making it a very inclusive place where we have gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, you know, we have, we can really accommodate almost anyone that walks through the door, but at the same time, we have our smoked salmon toast that has real cream cheese on it, real smoked salmon. And so for us, it's just like real whole foods. And so, you know, even like our gluten-free, we have gluten-free bread, which gets a gluten-free toaster. So if someone has celiacs, there's no cross-contamination, like really just making it a place for everyone. Because I think, too, there's people that,

more traditional eaters that, you know, they don't, toastique might seem too healthy to them. And then you come on in, you're like, oh, what do you like? What do you normally like? And we'll find something for you that, you know, doesn't, like, it actually can still be delicious and healthy. And so that's really what we've been all about is, like, not putting ourselves in a little box, but having a diverse enough menu where we can accommodate everyone. And I think when we're looking at, you know, juice bars or some healthy cafes, like sometimes it's too. two niche where it does turn off a lot of people, whereas to see there truly is something for everyone that walks in and everything's made to order besides our juices. Our juices are made in

house, but we can't customize them, but everything else is made to order. So, you know, tell us what you like, what you don't like, and we can find something for you. And I think that's been a huge benefit to really differentiate ourselves through the rest of the other, like, wellness brands. Yeah, personalization is a topic. We talk about a lot of just, you know, more and more I think consumers are looking for an experience that's fully catered to them and also catered to the entire family, you know, having something for everyone. So that's definitely a big thing that would applaud, we would applaud you guys for just because that's so important nowadays. And so I want to talk a little bit more about

the franchise process. So what has been your biggest mindset shift as a founder through that? because as you grow, you know, it's it's trusting your team more. It's trusting those franchisees more. And how have you kind of protected the brand through this experience as well? Yeah, I think that's been the hardest thing for me, you know, going as a founder, I was in the store every single day open and closed. Even even for the first like three or four corporate stores, you know, I was still in there. A, because I loved it, but B, you know, I wanted everything to be perfect.

And so now with franchising, you know, and with our corporate stores, trusting the teams. Like, that was my biggest thing. And I think we opened our second store nine months after our first store. And even that was kind of a good test where it's like, okay, I've trained my people in store one for the first nine months. Like, in theory, they're going to do just fine. But it was kind of hard for me to let go. And I think so being in the details in the weeds day to day has completely shifted where it's focusing. on building the team, building the systems that the team can follow and execute.

And so now it's working with our team, our support staff here to make sure that they're well equipped, they have the resources, and they're empowered to, you know, make decisions and grow their team, and not every question or decision needs to be ran by me. That has been a big challenge, but it's been one of the most, like, rewarding things, I would say is because now we do have a team like our support staff is 26 people and I'll say training was one of the hardest things to let go because I was like who's going to train better than me, you know, but now we have a training team of seven people and the training program is like way better than I could even imagine. And so it's been just very rewarding to when you do build a team

and they're passionate about the brand and driven and know they're empowered to make changes and take initiative on their department, it just flourishes. And I think that's one of like the best things that can happen and is happening right now. Totally. And I think also these franchisees and these owners and operators, right, they are extensions of the brand in addition to you. And so I think that training piece is so key because that material is coming directly from you all in terms of the brand voice and how you want them to show up.

and it's just it's a wonderful kind of model, I think, for for locations who haven't necessarily maybe franchised yet, but are thinking about that, our founders who are thinking about that, actually. So that's a really great call. In terms of your specific leadership style, how has that really evolved for you over the last seven, eight years? Yeah, I think, you know, some things have stayed the same and some things I've definitely been forced to grow, but I think something that's always important to me even as I was the owner-operator, manager, and store one focusing on the culture, like I mentioned, and really making a good work environment. You know, hospitality has always been known for overworked and underpaid, and I came from that from my one job, and it's like,

how do we get that balance? You know, like restaurants, you can't pay the highest salaries in the world because the margins aren't that big for it. But how can you still cultivate a great culture and a team where they feel like they're appreciated and motivated. And the biggest thing, too, is the opportunity for growth, which is why we continue to open another corporate store so that our team wouldn't get stagnant and felt like that they're not learning and they're not growing. And so those things have stayed the same as I've evolved.

And now being able, it's really turning into a coach and a mentor for our franchisees. And our corporate team as well is just, you really need, it's all about the people, so really just being fully focused on them and coaching them on how they can grow and how they can, you know, make the culture that we have here, how does that trickle down to their store as well. But I think things that have changed is a little bit like I mentioned, just, you know, being in the details. And I, like, I am still perfectionist, but it's, it's really choosing your battles without sacrificing quality, you know,

Like, okay, if this person only does it 80 or 90% as good as I could do it, then that's okay because it's not going to, it's not going to change the brand. It's not going to ruin whatever. So it's really just kind of understanding priorities and just allowing your team to grow as well. And what does your day-to-day look like right now? What are some of the things that you're involved in or not involved in? Yeah, I would say my day-to-day is always. different. I travel a lot because I do try to go to all the openings. I've only missed six,

I think, out of 65. So I travel a lot, but when I'm not traveling, the team is really everything and making sure our directors have everything they need. But then also I am having calls. So I am the final gatekeeper between all of the franchise partners that we bring into the system. So So that fills up a lot of my days well, but then just trying to need on a monthly basis or biweekly basis with some of our directors too and making sure they're, you know, all good. And if they need anything to me, from me, we can get it settled. That's incredible. It's nice to have those touch points with them and it's more of that ongoing relationship

so that they feel like they still have support from you all from a corporate lens. That's incredible. And as we wrap up, I have a fun question. I'm curious, and we know about the drink already, the juice. But what is your go-to-to-to-to-toeco order? Yes. So I always try to switch it up, but then I always go to what I love the most, which is our avocado smash toast.

It's honestly your most popular item. It's so good. We have marinated tomatoes on them, which is like my favorite item on the entire menu. It's like sweet and tangy. But I'll either do that with an egg or crab, and then I always get a coffee. Our coffee is so, so amazing. And we work with a small roaster out of Orlando, but it's truly some of the best coffee in the world. So I always get cappuccino, cortado, every morning.

I do also want to shout out the gluten-free bread because I only have a sensitivity, but I have family members that have celiac, and they love that it's a gluten-free specific toaster. because a lot of these more, like, healthy cafes will not have a dedicated toaster, and then there's possible contamination. And so I do just want to shout that out, and the avocado smash is the best on the gluten-free bread. It really is. Well, thank you.

And it's really important, like, the whole thing is to accommodate everyone. Like, even our house granola is, it has tree nuts in it, and it does have gluten, but then we have one that's nut-free and gluten-free because we don't want to discriminate anyone. You know, the granola is the best part when you put it on the bowl. So if someone needs to remove it, then it's not going to taste the same. So we try to really accommodate everyone so that even if it's an allergy or preference, we can make something for you. Yeah. Also, I want to give a kudos to the avocado smash.

It is delicious. I have had that. That's usually my go-to as well. Okay. Yes. Brianna, I actually have one more question to just something around. I'm super passionate about. I got my start in in the food and beverage.

industry as well and I feel like customer service and just learning how to provide a great experience for guests has been like at the forefront of my career even in marketing is just figuring out like how to weave really positive experiences for customers online and offline. I'm just curious like what are some of your go-to customer service principles or things that you've learned throughout the years that you would say like any business can apply to the work that they're doing. Yeah, I think something that's so, so important is being knowledgeable about what you're you're selling I think that's you know sounds so obvious but sometimes you know if you go into a restaurant you ask something some people be like oh I haven't had that before I don't know and so

even from our store one we have a quiz which has grown it used to be 50 questions now it's 80 questions but it's before someone can work on the register it's just like frequently asked questions just or how to make recommendations or what is vegan, what is gluten-free to make those suggestions, I think that's something that that is a huge touch point, even if that person is so nice and they greeted you and whatever, but then you go to ask a question and they just don't know how to answer it or if it is, you know, we don't have something. Like, for example, like we get a question sometimes, oh, do you just have 100% orange juice? And we don't, but we have our defender juice that has orange and carrot and turmeric.

We want people to try our customized shoes, but always having an answer for someone, even if it's something we don't have, like, what can we recommend? And so that's something that has been so important. I think that relates to any business, even down to your part-time people, someone you might not think is that important to have all the answers. We want to give them the resources and the training to make sure they can answer at least like 99% of the questions. But that also with the personal touch, we always encourage people to, of course, remember names, and orders, but even take it a step further if you know one of the regulars is going out on vacation when they come back, being like, how is your vacation? You know, we want everyone to feel at home and feel welcomed. And I think, like I was saying before, in this day and age, it's a non-negotiable.

Like, you have to have a good experience for people to want to come back and spend their money there and make it part of their routine. Yeah, that experience is that memorability factor, right? It keeps people recalling the experience, wanting to come back, et cetera. So thank you for sharing that. And thank you for just sharing your whole entire story. We're definitely rooting for you guys and just excited to see where To Stique goes and where you go personally. But on that, would love to be able to just stay in touch with you and the brand. So if you don't mind, share with us how we can connect with you personally, but also All Things To Stique. Yeah, so all things Toastique is pretty easy. Our Instagram is at Tooseek. And that's really our

bread and butter. That's like our main social media page. We do have Facebook pages at ToSique and we have localized pages and then also just on our website, ToSique.com. And for me, mine's pretty easy too. Just Brianna Keith for Instagram and LinkedIn. And I don't really use Facebook. But thank you so much, Brianna. We really appreciate you joining us today and sharing. Yeah, thank you guys. It was great. I appreciate you having me on. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Marketing Happy Hour. If you enjoyed it, make sure you're subscribed to the show and sign up for a weekly newsletter with insights and marketing resources. We also invite you to check out the MHHH collective, our community for marketers looking to connect, grow, and learn together.

Check out the links in the show notes. We'll see you next time.